what’s this all about

I love food. Plain and simple. I love to eat out, I love to eat in. I love to try new things, I love to figure out how to duplicate something fancy I’ve seen or tasted. I’d love to live somewhere with more counter space, a dishwasher and maybe, if I’m a very good girl, I’ll get a garbage disposal one of these days. But for now, I have about 30″ of counter top to work with, and try to make the most of it. Cooking more frequently was originally an exercise in saving money, and when I realized how much I still enjoyed it, that became the motivation.

As of the 1st of April, 2012 I’ve felt like a giddy little girl on Christmas morning. I now live in a kitchen with a huge long granite countertop – it has a peninsula with space for 4 stools, and a dishwasher, 5 burner gas stove and and dishwasher AND garbage disposal! I feel so lucky! It’s a joy to walk into the kitchen, and see that there is space not only to put food and dishes away properly (helllooooo cabinets!) but space on the counter to keep the stand mixer and food processor AND knives all in the same room! 

I find inspiration to try new things through various different avenues, if I ever get tired of cooking the same things, or feel less motivated, I throw on some old Julia Child French Chef series episodes and she gets me back in the kitchen. Not only do I thoroughly enjoy her voice, but we almost have the same name, and I grew up in Cambridge… She also has a bunch of dishes and pots and pans that remind me of cooking with my Nonna when I was little.

I apologize for how crappy my photos can be. I use whatever I can reach and leave the least bit messed up from my messy hands while in the midst of cooking. This includes: my iphone 4, my ipad 2 (?), and most often my Canon PowerShot SD1400 ls. I wish I could remember how to get the settings to where I want them most of the time, but then, I just wing it and hope you can tell the difference between the salmon and the countertops… Or whathaveyou…

I have finally jumped in with both feet. I purchased a DSLR, the Canon Rebel T4i to be exact. I hope to learn how to use it to make my pictures look a little better.

And finally, a little disclaimer, because from what I’ve seen, it’s a sensible thing to do. This policy is valid from 22 September 2012

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact Julia Fairchild (JuliaDFairchild@gmail.com). This blog does not accept any form of advertising, sponsorship, or paid insertions. I write for my own purposes. However, I may be influenced by my background, occupation, or experience in anything that I write. The owner of this blog will never receive compensation in any way from this blog.

The photographs I use are mine (you can usually tell because they look like an amateur took them…), taken by me, unless noted. If you wish to use them, please credit me appropriately. I try to do my utmost to credit ideas, photos and recipes properly and represent the original creator properly, and hope that you will do the same.

The owner of this blog is not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owner’s. I do not claim or appear to be an expert on a certain topic or product or service area, I will only endorse products or services that I’ve deemed, based on our experience, are worthy of such endorsement. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should always be verified with the manufacturer or provider.

I have no professional expertise or educational background or training in the cooking arena. I just like to cook, and enjoy sharing my food with my friends and family. I post these experiences in the kitchen for personal and informational purposes only, and hope that if anybody uses anything they find here will use their best judgement.